Chapter 29
After dealing with the Wilson family, Alvin took his team out to celebrate the new addition. He even paid for the whole dinner himself.
Things were cheerful on Aubree’s side, but at the Wilsons, the mood was downright grim.
Everyone was there except Trevor, who was off filming and couldn’t make it back.
Then Bryan laid out everything that had happened with Aubree over the past few days.
Alice snapped immediately, “Is Aubree trying to turn the world upside down now? She actually talked back to you?”
As a mother, what Alice cared about wasn’t that her daughter was out there with no home-it was that her daughter had the nerve to argue with her eldest brother.
Ronald didn’t bother hiding his annoyance. He sneered. “She’s grown pretty bold, hasn’t she? Last time at the hospital, didn’t she say she wanted to cut ties with us?”
Ronald honestly thought Aubree had come crawling back in a few days. Who knew she had it in her to keep going?
Ronald gritted his teeth. “When did she get so out of control?”
Emery sat there listening to everyone blaming and criticizing Aubree, not knowing what to say.
Honestly, Emery wanted to ask-did Aubree really do anything wrong? What exactly did she do wrong?
Emery thought, ‘This house feels suffocating. If I were Aubree, I wouldn’t have lasted a day. But she lived here for three whole years.
Daxton, the one who doted on Carmen the most out of all the brothers, had already been furious when he heard Aubree refused to ghostwrite for her. If he could teleport, he would’ve gone straight to Aubree and given her a good scolding.
Bryan cut in impatiently, “Isn’t it because you guys gave her money behind my back? Otherwise, she wouldn’t even have been able to rent a place and would’ve come crawling back already.”
Bryan had only found out after sending his assistant to check on things that Aubree had moved into a tiny apartment in a sketchy part of town.
Aubree’s supplementary card had already been cut off. If she had cash on her, it had to be from the pocket money someone gave her before.
Alice paused for a second. “But your dad and I never gave her anything. Other than that gift we gave when she first got home, we were worried she’d waste money, so we never gave her another cent.”
Daxton added right away, “Why would I give her money?” The disgust on his face was pretty obvious.
Trevor wasn’t there, but he was always the busiest. Even though he was closest with Carmen, he’d forget to give her anything -let alone Aubree.
When all eyes turned toward him, Emery let out a bitter laugh. “I didn’t give her any.”
Emery hadn’t thought about it before. Aubree had food and a place to stay at home, plus that card. So he never even considered the money situation.
But all the other kids-Carmen included-used to get a seven-figure monthly allowance before they started working. Now that they had their own careers, even Carmen’s personal account never dropped below eight figures.
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Chapter 29
At that moment, Alice’s eyes went wide. She asked, “If she didn’t have money, how’d she rent a place?”
Carmen chimed in at just the right time. “Maybe she took something from the house before she left?”
“She stole from us?” Ronald’s fury exploded.
Ronald already thought this biological daughter wasn’t half as good as Carmen, but he didn’t expect her to be rotten to the core-stealing from her own home?
Emery rubbed his temples. “Dad, if anything was missing, the housekeeper would’ve noticed right away.”
Daxton scoffed, “You never know. It’s always the ones inside the house that are hardest to guard against.”
Wendy, the housekeeper, couldn’t keep quiet anymore and jumped in. “Ms. Miller had a sponsor when she was living at the orphanage. The sponsor still sent her living expenses the first month she came back, so it’s probably that money.”
Everyone went silent, looking surprised. They really didn’t know much about Aubree’s life before she came to the Wilsons.
Wendy continued, “And when she left, I saw her with my own eyes. She only packed what she brought when she first came. She didn’t even take any new clothes-wore the same outfit she showed up in.”
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